Asos unveils new supply chain commitments for third-party brands

Asos said it would ask all brands on its website to commit to signing the Transparency Pledge; map out all parts of its UK textile supply chain; identify risks within those supply chains; and join the Fast Forward auditing programme before the end of the year. 

By signing the pledge, launched in 2016 by nine charities including Human Rights Watch and the Clean Clothes Campaign, brands would commit to “regularly and publicly disclosing a list of manufacturing sites in their supply chain”. 

Asos said by making third-party brands sign up to these commitments it would be bringing them in line with its own-brand suppliers in the UK. 

Following the Leicester scandal, where textile suppliers to Boohoo were accused of paying staff below the minimum wage and forcing them to work in unsafe conditions, Asos said UK suppliers would be the “initial focus area”. It said it would roll out similar commitments for international brands in the coming months. 

As a means of helping third-party brands adhere to the new commitments, Asos said it would be holding a “collaborative workshop together with the Fast Forward audit organisation” in September.

Asos chief executive Nick Beighton said: “When we launched our third-party brand engagement programme at the start of 2018, we set out five minimum requirements that we wanted the brands we sold on the site to sign up to by 2020. We’ve been working hard to support our brand partners to achieve this aim, and with the target now in sight, we want to be even more ambitious – and ask those brands that manufacture in the UK to bring their supply chains in line with our own, if they are not already.

“We believe the four commitments we have set out this week are critical enablers to improving sourcing standards across the UK. We hope that our brand partners will join us in striving to reach this goal, with the continued support of Asos, Fast Forward and other leading lights in UK manufacturing.”